Where Have All The Heroes Gone?

Where are today’s heroes? Are there any? Who might they be?

In this month of July we honor the independence of our nation for the contributions of our Founding Fathers, without whom there would be no heroes of these United States of America. Let us all remember to give thanks to the vast number of heroes of the Revolutionary War for we are a free country unto ourselves that goes beyond the 4th of July.

John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, commissioned George Washington as Commander in Chief of the United States Colonies, the only president to be voted unanimously to lead the country. A true hero by all measures in American history.

Paul Revere one April 18, 1775, accompanied by William Dawes and Dr. Samuel Prescott, who rode through the night from Boston to Lexington with a two-lantern signal advising John Hancock and Samuel Adams the approach of British soldiers and, by his own account, cried out as he entered towns along the 16-mile route, “The regulars are coming out!”

The Congressional Medal of Honor is bestowed upon military personnel who distinguish themselves for “…conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy…”

President Lincoln established the Navy Medal of Honor Dec 21, 1861. The Army Medal of Honor followed on July 12, 1862. The first recipient of the medal was presented to Pvt. Jacob Parrot and five other members of Andrew’s Raiders in 1863 for disrupting the advance of the Confederate Army by rail from Atlanta to Chattanooga. A total of nineteen medals were issued for this act of gallantry, although their capture resulted in the failure of the intended result.

There are three medals each for the Army, the Air Force and the Navy/Marines/Coast guard. The self-descriptive word “Valor” appears on both the medals issued by the Army and Air Force.

Per the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, there have been a total of 3447 Medal of Honor recipients. Eighty-seven were African Americans. The first and only female to be awarded for her contributions is Dr. Mary Walker for her medical services during the Civil War. Her medal was revoked in 1917 due to a revision by Congress to award those involved in “actual combat with the enemy”. Refusing to return it, she wore it until her death. President Carter reinstated the medal in 1977.

The most recent recipient is Pvt. 1st Class Ross A. McGinnis on June 5, 2008, for having sacrificed his life by throwing himself on a live grenade, thus saving the lives of at least four other soldiers in combat in Iraq.

Five-star Generals include General Douglas MacArthur and Dwight Eisenhower; four-star Generals include Ulysses S. Grant and Alexander Grift. Other Generals include James Doolittle and Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

Who are our top-ranked military heroes today? None have yet, nor may they ever, receive the Medal of Honor.

Four-star General David Patraeus was affectively criticized in the fall of 2007 when over 20 Generals, including John Batiste, Gregory Newbold, Paul D. Eaton, John Riggs, Wesley Clark and Wayne Downing, spoke out about his handling of the conflict in Iraq.

Patraeus was inappropriately likened to a traitor in 2007 for a progress report supportive of success for the troop surge in Iraq under the guidance of the Bush Administration. In October 2008, four-star General Patraeus was chosen Commander of the U.S. Central Command, overseeing military operations throughout the Middle East region, including hotspots Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. Patraeus’ record may become a campaign issue if rumors materialize that he will seek the Republican nomination in the 2012 presidential election. By any definition of the term, will he be remembered as a hero?

Although not of military rank, the heroic actions of the civilians on that day of infamy, September 11, 2001, deserve more recognition than an on-site memorial at Ground Zero. If nothing else, Congressional Gold Medals would be appropriate.

The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian award as an appreciation for distinguished achievements of achievement to individuals, institutions or events. To date, there are 149 acknowledged contributors including George Washington, the Dalai Lama, Rosa Parks, John Wayne, Bob Hope, Irving Berlin, Robert Frost, Winston Churchill, the American Red Cross, the entire 650 U.S. 1980 Summer Olympic Teams (650), Pope John Paul II, Charles Shultz, Thomas Edison, and on and on…

I ponder again, Who are today’s heroes?

Neither President Obama or Democrats nor Republicans. Ben Barnanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve? Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner? Or his predecessor Henry Paulson? The defense of their actions in Congressional hearings supports the impression they are heroes unto themselves.

It appears that Goldman Sachs, with a never before seen quarterly profit of $3.4B and JP Morgan with $2.7B in earnings, may be perceived as champions of Wall Street, which is also having a heck of a lot of hay days in recent weeks. Investor profiteers and those with propped-up bonuses are the ones who are able to increase the overall savings rate among Americans. It ain’t you or me. There golden eggs are again leaving the rest of us with cracked shells and empty nest eggs.